Ratnakar Bank plans to add 100 branches by 2015

Kolhapur-based Ratnakar Bank is planning a pan-India expansion by March 2015. It is looking to set up about 100 branches across the country and is eyeing a growth of about 35-40%.

Kolhapur-based Ratnakar Bank is planning a pan-India expansion by March 2015. It is looking to set up about 100 branches across the country and is eyeing a growth of about 35-40%.

“We have about 124 branches now. We are planning to take it to 175 by next financial year and add another 40-50 branches in fiscal 2015. That should make our footprint pan-India,” Vishwavir Ahuja, the bank’s managing director and CEO, said.

The bank is expecting to close the current fiscal with a business of about Rs13,000 crore, while the net interest margin (NIM) is said to be between 3.1% and 3.4%.
Though set up in 1943, the bank has gone through various phases of business readjustment and has confined to limited geographies.

“We have branches spread across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and NCR, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Daman & Diu. We have a total assets of around `10,200 crore. Retail, agriculture and SME are some of the focus areas,” Ahuja said.

The bank has been infusing capital raised from various investments and the current capital is at about Rs1,150 crore. About 60% of the bank’s capital is held by various institutions.

However, the scheduled commercial bank has not infused any Tier II capital so far and has the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to increase the percentage of foreign holding in the bank from 43% to about 55%. The bank is keen on infusing capital in phases.

“We are using it as and when we need capital. We still have some headroom to infuse foreign capital,” he said.